Not sure where I even start when it comes to summing up this race. It was quite simply mesmerising. We've been here over four hours, the race was in doubt with a lengthy rain delay, we saw Hamilton crash out early on, Alonso retired having been in a position to win, Schumacher almost pull off the unthinkable, Vettel looked set for yet another win and messed up on one of the final turns, and Button fight back from 21st place to win the race which for him included SIX PIT STOPS. But let's not forget he is under investigation for a collisions with Alonso and Hamilton.

Button: "I don't know what to say it's been a very emotional few hours. I couldn't see anything when Lewis was alongside me. On the last lap, Seb went wide on the circuit and I took the win. It was fantastic, even if I hadn't won I would have enjoyed today. It was possibly my best."

Vettel: it was a very difficult race from start to finish. I was probably too conservative when I was ins the lead and didn’t open the gap enough. I saw Jenson coming through and I made a mistake at the end. I ended up in the wet and it was easy for him to pass. We've seen a lot of cars not finish but today it was good points. It's not the sweetest feeling though.

Tom Cary: "Unbelievable. What a win for JB. Great atmosphere in the press room. Vettel will recover pretty quickly from his 2nd ... 60pt lead ... What if Jenson gets disqualified for the collision with Lewis? This has been a truly strange day though ..."

Athletes react to Button's win Andy Murray "Unbelievable race by @jensonbutton! The most exciting race I've seen in a long time! Loved it great comeback"

Vettel may well be saved by time running but you cannot deny Button has driven the race of his life and has pitted six times!

Lap 65 He's not done yet BUTTON PASSES SCHUMACHER and is now in second, five laps to go can he do the unthinkable? Unbelievable driving from the Briton.

BUTTON PASSES WEBBER! What an error from the Red Bull driver he missed a corner and the McLaren driver took full advantage to put himself in a podium position.

Lap 64 Webber passes Schumacher but will have to let the Mercedes driver back through and has! Looks like another retirement and it's Maldonado. Petrov has overtaken Kobayahi in fifth and Massa has slipped back into 9th.

Andy Murray: "I think one of the marshals in the f1 in Canada had forgotten to #stayonyourfeet!!!"

Lap 60 safety car has gone and Vettel leads them off on the fourth restart of the afternoon. Green flags all round so let's see what else Montreal has in store for us in what has already been an incredible race. Awesome battle between Schumacher, Webber and Button in second to fourth.

Tom Cary: "While I would welcome a Michael Schumacher win, this may not be the time for it ... we're not exactly short of stories today #f1 #insane"

Lap 59 did I just see that right?a marshal fell over on the track with cars shooting passed him, what is going on in Montreal? 10 laps to go and my word I think there's plenty more surprises to come.

Lap 58 What a change in fortune for McLaren they've got to be delighted with Button's drive. He will still be investigated after the race for his earlier collision with Alonso but he's stormed back from 21st to 4th and could yet get himself on the podium. Outstanding from him. Looks like Heidfeld's race came to an end following a clash with Kobayashi, the Renault driver went into the back of the Sauber.

Retirements: Hamilton, Alonso, Kovalainen, Sutil, Heidfeld

Lap 56 Schumacher's creeping up on Vettel, Button is in P4 and HEIDFELD IS OUT OF THE RACE and shock horror the safety car is out.

1-5 Vettel, Schumacher, Webber, Kobayahsi, Button

Lap 54 looks like Massa bounced off the wall, the Ferrari's come in for a new nose and is back in 12th. Button's clocked the fastest lap and Webber is up to third. This is some race!

Lap 53 a lot of the front runners pitting, Vettel likely to give up the lead for the first time in the race when he comes in on this lap. Massa has damaged his car and been overtaken by Webber.

Lap 51 Di Resta's served his drive through and look at Schumacher! He's up to second, where has this drive come from? Button has pitted for the sixth time. SUTIL RETIRES

1-5 Vettel, Schumacher, Massa, Kobayashi, Heidfeld

Lap 49 Now Schumacher's claimed the fastest lap but he's come off the track and while he's held onto fourth he's a good 10 seconds behind Vettel. Meanwhile Button has pulled himself up to 10th and Di Resta's been handed a drive through penalty for causing a collision.

Lap 48 Vettel has clocked the fastest lap but his team-mate Webber is struggling to catch Heidfeld in fifth. Great work so far from Kobayashi in second he's holding Massa off well and look out for Schumacher who his putting in a great drive.

1-5 Vettel, Kobayashi, Massa, Schumacher, Heidfeld

Lap 45 Massa, who's just done the fastest lap of the race, told to get on with overtaking Kobayashi and catch Vettel. Schumacher's up to fourth. DRS has been enabled and there are two opportunities for drivers to use it in Canada. Di Resta and Heidfeld under investigation.

Lap 44 Drive through penalty for Sutil for overtaking while the safety car was out. Webber and Schumacher now creeping up behind Heidfeld. Button's coming through. He was back in 21st and has clawed his way up to 14th, let's not write him off just yet.

Lap 42SCHUMACHER PASSES WEBBER. Paul di Resta is in trouble he's damaged the front of his car and lost a wheel in a collision with Heidfeld, such a shame for the Scottish driver who is rapidly slipping down the standings having been fifth. Button and Alonso's collision will be investigated after the race.

Lap 41 great tussle going on between Webber and Schumacher in 6th and 7th. The German driver is a menace on a wet track. Vettel has a one and a half second advantage at the front. Nico Romberg concerned he has a puncture after small collision with Sutil.

Lap 40 safety car will come in after this lap and once again normal racing will resume. What a race we have here, never a dull moment in Montreal. Vettel has stormed away yet again, as well has he's driven til now I'm not convinced Kobayashi will be able to hold onto second place.

Lap 38 this race is going perfectly for Red Bull, Vettel still leads and Webber is in sixth. And how about Paul Di Resta the Scot is in fifth place. Button has pitted for the fourth time, fifth in total if you count his drive through penalty. The McLaren driver has rejoined the race at the back in 21st place. Incident involving him and Alonso is under investigation.

To confirm retirements, Alonso, Kovalainen and Hamilton are out

FERNANDO ALONSO IS OUT OF THE RACE

Lap 36-37 Both Ferrari's in at the same time and that will be costly to Alonso's race he's having to wait for Massa to finish. ALONSO IS OFF and yet again the safety car is out. It's all going on out there Button looks like he has a puncture and McLaren's misery continues.

Button went up the inside of Alonso and both cars are damaged. Alonso clipped the kerb and spun out.

Lap 35 Button and Di Resta in the pits for inter tyres with a host of other drivers. At the halfway point Vettel is still in front with Kobayashi second, Massa third, Petrov fourth and Webber is up to fifth.

Lap 34 Vettel has become the safety car, and he's floored it straight out. Kobayashi slipping all over the place there but holds on to second place, fantastic from the Sauber driver. Sutil and Schumacher are straight into the pits.

Lap 32 safety car is till out there, Button on team radio says the track is ready for racing to restart. Drivers ready to go, come on let's get that safety car in and race!

Lap 30 second retirement of the race Kovalainen is out. Lewis Hamilton was the first to pull out the race after damaging his car in a collision with McLaren team-mate Jenson Button on lap 8

Plenty of reaction to Lauda's comment that Hamilton will end up killing someone on the track, Eastick writes: "Enjoying the commentary. Nicki Lauda's comment re Hamilton that his behaviour would end in "someone getting killed". Sadly Nicki raced in the days when that might happen, but not now. Such a shame that a mighty champion like Lauda seems to be living in the past. As for Lewis. He was having a bad week. Now he's having a bad fortnight. He needs to confront his anger management issues."

Lap 29 Felipe Massa says the visibility is OK. Lotus driver Kovalainen looks like he's having some trouble with his car and is bound for the pits.

Lap 28 So on the restart positions 1-5 are Vettel, Kobayashi, Massa, Heidfeld and Petrov

Not all in support of Hamilton, Richard Thackwray says: "Give me Niki Lauda's opinion over Hamilton's anytime. Lauda was one of the greats, Hamilton is a menace."

2050: the safety car has pulled away and the race is back on in Montreal! Can Vettel hold on to this? 45 laps to go and you've got to wonder how much this delay will have affected the drivers. There is no DRS available.

and Caroline Ellis agrees that Hamilton does add spark to F1 racing, she says: "I agree – LH is the most exciting thing to happen to F1 in years. He's an incredibly thrilling and instinctive driver to watch. Viz. the Button/Hamilton incident, it looked to me like Hamilton was trying to pass Button on a straight, taking a clean, clear line, when Button effectively 'cut him up' – hopefully because he didn't see him. And as an aggrieved Bahrain resident, Canada have let themselves down on this, being so badly prepared for the rain – sort out your track or get more water clearing equipment, guys – it's not like rain is an unusual event for you!"

Murtaza Telya on emails defending Hamilton: Hmmm, I remember when a similar incident happened in the 2010 Hungarian Grand prix when Barichello tried to overtake Schumacher in the same way, and the 2 cars made contact. At that time, everyone was berating Schumacher, calling him a "dangerous driver" for pinning Barichello towards the wall. So why the double standards in this case? Looks like Hamilton has suddenly become the guy everybody loves to hate.

2046 rain has started AGAIN hopefully just a few more minutes to go

Tom Cary: "Race to be resumed at 1550. 2050 in UK ..."

2036apparently 14 minutes before race restarts behind safety car

2032 right more info on rain halting previous races. The last previous rain-hit race was the inaugural South Korean race last October which was halted and restarted 48 minutes later due to heavy rain. That race finished almost in darkness. The 2009 Malaysia Grand Prix was halted with 31 of 56 laps due to rain and before that the 1991 Australian Grand Prix was stopped with just 14 of 81 laps in the books. Half points were awarded in both races.

Interesting comments coming from three-times Formula One world champion Niki Lauda who thinks Hamilton is in danger of killing someone on the track: "He is completely mad. If the FIA does not punish him, I do not understand the world any more. At some point there has to be an end to all the jokes. You cannot drive like this as it will result in someone getting killed."

2024 Another short shower passing over and then, according to Whitmarsh, a decision will be made on the restart time.

2022 Interesting debate on the BBC about Hamilton. Ask him to change his driving style or let him continue? For me Hamilton has been bold this season – I don't like the way he's defended and explained his position at times, particularly this evening and in Moncao, but he's an exciting driver who takes risks and adds an enormous amount of entertainment to grand prix races. Am sure many of you would disagree, drop me a line with your thoughts.

Martin Whitmarsh: "We're expecting things to get going again. We'll probably start with the safety car so hopefully in the next few minutes we'll have some news on that." On the collision between the two McLaren drivers he said: "My honest view is Jenson didn't know he was there and Lewis was trying to make good progress. Everyone knows Jenson would not try and squeeze him into the wall like that but they've spoken about it. It was the right decision to take Lewis out of the race."

2008 Cheers in Canada THE RAIN HAS STOPPED

Andrew Flintoff: "Do they not stop for food in f1 when their filling up with petrol, surely they grab a costa coffee, a ginsters pasty and a cheap CD!"

2005 Got to hand it to the crowd in Montreal they're sticking it out and still look like they're enjoying themselves. Imagine there are similar scenes at the Isle of Wight festival.

1959 All fun and games behind the scenes it seems, Hamilton is kicking back and chilling out with Rihanna. Still no change outside however. Almost an hour since the race came to a halt though the sky in Canada looks to be brightening up. Rain set to stop in the next 10 minutes. Still a fair amount of work to do to make the track safe before the race can resume however. Not sure how many times I've said the rain will stop in 10 minutes but I have hope!

1947 There was also a session cancelled at the 2004 Japan Grand Prix amid tsunami alerts.

Karthinkeyan saying he doesn't expect any action for another half-hour. On the same topic Webber sees no reason we can't sit it out for a few hours. Could be a long night ladies and gents. Settle in and get comfortable.

Paul Di Resta "It was looking good, I made a mistake so could have been in p2. It's my first time driving the car in the wet and in Canada. The right decision was taken there to stop it and I don't see this getting going for a while. It will be interesting to know when the decision will be take to get things started again."

1938 No two-hour time limit any longer according to Williams team. It seems we're here for the duration ... everyone determined for this race to continue. Latest is another 20-25 minutes of rain ... I remember qualifying in Japan getting rained off last season, who remembers last time a race was called off because of the wet stuff?

1935 Just had confirmation that should this race be cancelled half points will be awarded. They need to drive 53 laps or more to secure full points.

1930 Well it's not looking good is it? Latest reports suggests there's another 15 minutes of rain to come. The race is 25 laps in, cancelling will see it become the third shortest race in F1 history. To confirm, the race was halted with 74 minutes and 45 laps remaining, with Vettel leading ahead of Kobayashi, with Massa third.

Cameramen looking for a distraction have found pop star Rihanna ... how many jokes on Twitter already about her umbrella?

Lotus Chief Technical officer, Mike Gascoyne: "Rain about to ease and stop and no more rain on the radar after that, just depends on how long for the water to drain from the track."

Ross Davidson says "as anyone could have predicted, Lewis is wrong. again. Team was right and his rear suspension is damaged. and in response to Nick Owers' comment, the rolling start was in fact the right decision. Far too dangerous for a normal start considering the number of inexperienced drivers, like Hamilton, on the grid."

1920 No sooner do I write that but the McLaren car returns to the garage and it seems there was more damage than Hamilton thought. Will bring you updates on that as and when I can. In other news, it's still raining.

1915 What a difference a year makes hey? This time 12 months ago McLaren were celebrating a one-two in Montreal, today it seems the teams have made the wrong call in telling Hamilton to retire and Button has been handed a drive-through penalty.Read what happened in 2010.

1910 I'm still confused about something Hamilton said after the crash. He thought he only had a problem with a rear tyre but his team said he had suspension failure. Hamilton then said that this was apparently not the case. Is that not a huge error on McLaren's behalf, could he have stayed in the race? Or have I miss-understood what he was saying?

1908 Sebastian Vettel told the rain is likely to intensify before it lets off. Drivers will get a 10 minute warning before the restart but it seems we'll be here a while.

Ian Caldwell echoes Eddie Jordan's sentiments about how the race was started: "I agree with Eddie Jordan. If the track was too wet too start they should have delayed the start. F1 is starting to look like Nascar where the safety car is out every 15 minutes."

If you're just joining us torrential rain has halted racing in Canada after 25 laps. Vettel is still at the front, Hamilton is out, and it looks unlikely that things will restart for a while yet. Before today, the safety car had been deployed 10 times in as many years at this GP. If things carry on like this today we could see the same number matched in one race.

Lewis Hamilton's thoughts on his collision wit Jenson Button: "Jenson made a mistake into the corner and I got the run on him, I felt I was halfway up the outside, but he kept moving across. Whether or not he saw me I don't know, but then I was in the wall." Interesting, I think Hamilton was at fault. It was very early in the race and the conditions suggest that he should have held off.

Nick Owers has emailed in about how the race was started: "Should have let them fire into the first corner under normal race conditions ... they robbed the spectators of the most spectacular part of the race!"

Plenty being said about whether or not the race should have started with the safety car, what do you think? Waiting on a 10 minute warning for the race restart but forecasts suggest the rain has no intention of letting up for about 15 minutes.

Christian Horner on the race to far and decision to put out the red flag: "It's way too dangerous they've done the right thing by stopping the race. Accidents are so easy to have so it's the right thing to stop it. [At the start] the safety car stayed out a long time, it could have come in a lap early but it was the right decision to start it like that. So far we've made the right calls. We had an issue with Mark's car and we seem to have tidied that up. We're trying to look after the tyres and monitor the weather."

Eddie Jordan: "No doubt about the safety aspect but I have an issue with the way the race was started. We were stolen of the excitement. I do not accept that the race should have started under a safety car. If you're going to have the opportunity of pulling a fast one, I have a concern about the way it is at the moment."

RED FLAG OUT, RACE IS SUSPENDED

Lap 25 Just one retirement form the race so far. Lewis Hamilton went out after eight laps but managed to have quite an eventful race before he did. The McLaren driver clipped Mark Webber early on and was under investigation, he then collided with Jenson Button. Damage sustained in the second incident damaged his far to the point he was forced to withdraw.

1-5 Vettel, Kobayashi, Massa, Heidfeld, Petrov

Vettel on team radio: "from turn nine to turn 13 it is undriveable. You cannot restart the race like this. The car behind will see nothing going into the water and will smash the car."

More from Bruce Christie "The only person that can stop Vettel is Lady Luck"

Lap 20 Both Red Bull cars pit for a fresh set of wets. Fantastic move by the team meaning the drivers have essentially had a "free" pit stop. Schumacher still on inters, he'll need to change that as soon as possible if he wants to stay in this race.

Lap 19 At the front Alonso, Button, Rosberg and Schumacher have pitted to get the inter tyres on. Button looks to have cleared some traffic and is up to seventh. The rain is coming down hard and the safety car is back out. Alosno and Button are back in the pits to revert to the wets. Great news for Vettel.

1-5 Vettel, Massa, Kobayashi, Webber, Alonso

Lap 17 1:32:90 Button is showing enough speed to get himself back in the running, he's up to 10 having just passed Paul di Resta but his race is entirely dependant on the heavy rain holding off. Webber passes Heidfeld for 7th. The Mercedes driver and Alonso have pitted.

RAIN IS FALLING

Lap 15 Webber is clawing himself back into this race. If you're just joining us the Red Bull driver was clipped by Hamilton early on and fell back into 12th. He's just passed Petrov into 8th and is closing in on Heidfeld.

Lap 13 adding to an already disastrous day for McLaren there's adrive through penalty for Button, he's made some gains in his position but chooses to take the penalty immediately, likely to emerge in 15th.

1-5: Vettel, Alonso, Massa, Rosberg, Schumacher

Bruce Christie has emailed in his thoughts on Hamilton: "Anyone says something good about Hamilton after this display will need treatment. He hit Webber and then Button but then went back into the race putting everyone at risk. The man needs a long rest from GP racing."

Lap 11: great news for Sauber after a disappointing couple of days in Canada, Kobayashi has got himself up to sixth place. More bad news for McLaren, the rain is coming and Button is on the wrong tyres. Safety car coming in after this lap.

Interesting comment from Mark Blundle: "I sometimes feel that Hamilton believes people will just part the ways for him, less haste more speed ..." agree? Let me know your thoughts.

Lap 10 Button asks if there is any damage to his car following that collision, his team reassure him that for the moment all look fine. Think there'll be a strong exchange of words between the two drivers a bit later on.

Tom Cary: "Lewis collision with Webber, then loses place to JB. this is sure to set the debate raging once again over whether Lewis is too gung ho"

LEWIS HAMILTON RETIRES AFTER 8 LAPS

Lap 8 The McLarens collide and Hamilton is in trouble.

"What is he doing" was Button's reaction on the team radio. Never a dull moment at this race. Safety car is out again.

Lap 6 Looks like it was the front-left of Hamilton's car that clipped Webber on the first turn. The Australian driver is back in 12th place. Both drivers are under investigation.

1-5: Vettel, Alonso, Massa, Rosberg, Schumacher

Lap 5 Safety cars is out of the way and Vettel is setting the pace, Alonso is staying close. Webber spins out, looks like Hamilton was the cause of that. Cars struggling for grip they're sliding around all over the place. Fantastic start from the two Mercedes drivers they've got themselves ahead of the McLarens.

Lap 4 Mike Gascoyne: "safety car start on full wets, very early call for that, think it could have been a proper start."

1804 heavy rain is scheduled in 20 minutes time.

Hamilton: "Conditions are wet ... but visibility is OK."

1800 no formation lap straight into the race in Canada ... DRS disabled because of weather conditions

1758 Some predictions then: I'd like to say I'm confident someone can deny Vettel the win but given his comeback from Friday's crash I think the German's got the confidence to make it six out of seven. Alonso has been great off the line and will push him hard but I think will have to settle for second, and in a bid to make amends for a disappointing qualifying session I'm going with Hamilton for the third podium place.

Tom Cary "Horner just hinted to me that RBR will go with wets despite no rain. "Track v wet now. Trying to second guess future weather can backfire"

1754SAFETY CAR STARTSO ALL DRIVERS ON WETS

How they line-up:

1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1 min 13.014 secs

2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:13.199

3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:13.217

4 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:13.429

5 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:13.565

6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:13.814

7 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:13.838

8 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:13.864

9 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) Renault 1:14.062

10 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:14.085

11 Paul di Resta (Gbr) Force India 1:14.752

12 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Williams 1:15.043

13 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) Sauber-Ferrari 1:15.285

14 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:15.287

15 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:15.334

16 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 1:15.361

17 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) Sauber-Ferrari 1:15.587

18 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:16.294

19 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 1:16.745

20 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 1:16.786

21 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) HRT-F1 1:18.424

22 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 1:18.537

23 Narain Karthikeyan (Ind) HRT-F1 1:18.574

24 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) Virgin Racing 1:19.414

1750 to confirm, Pedro de la Rosa is driving for Sauber in place of Sergio Perez who on Friday said he was too unwell to drive this weekend. So late was the Mexican's decision that De la Rosa was sporting his McLaren overalls for his first drive.

Sauber will be looking for a change in fortune this evening, it's not been a great weekend so far. Both Kobayashi and De la Rosa crashed heavily on Saturday and as such start in 13th and 17th respectively.

Telegraph F1 correspondent Tom Cary: "Just had a chat with Ross Brawn. Big decision over whether to start on inters or wets. No rain expected for next half-hour but track v wet ..."

1745 Here's what some of the drivers have had to say ahead of this evening's race:

Lewis Hamilton: "We are just very slow this weekend. It appears that the other guys have maybe made a step forward, but I really don't know. We're still not in the worst position, but I would like to be higher up. This was just the maximum the car was able to do. This weekend we're just lacking speed. I don't think I've ever driven the car so hard in my life, really."

Nico Rosberg: "I'm pretty confident that we can do better in the race, certainly compared to our pace in Monaco. We've put in a lot of work on race performance and I hope we can translate that. It's good to have saved a set of new option tyres as well."

Fernando Alonso: "We are two tenths, 1.5 tenths behind Red Bull. That is a much better result than we expected and a much better result than the first six races. We are happy with the performance of the car, it has been very smooth the whole weekend and I'm looking forward to tomorrow"

1735 Evening ladies and gents. Well the rain in London prevented any action at Queen's today but it's certainly set to add to the thrill in Canada. I get the feeling we're in for quite a race and can't honestly remember the last time Ile de Notre Dame made for dull viewing.

Practice on Friday certainly delivered some unexpected surprises, Sebastian Vettel crashed out, Michael Schumacher posted the third fastest time in the first session, and McLaren had a bit of a nightmare on what was widely expected to be 'their weekend'. Hamilton and Button start in 5th and 7th respectively.

True to form Vettel stormed back and secured himself his sixth pole position with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa behind him. It means the Red Bull driver has started from the front row at every race since last year's Singapore GP and, having already won five out of six races this season, the 23-year-old has equalled his winning tally from last season and we're not even halfway through this one.

Brace yourselves for a momentary stat attack:

Drivers on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve will be averaging 222kph It doesn't stand to be the comfiest of drivers – Canada is the bumpiest of the circuits They will make in the region of 56 gear changes PER LAP Since 2001 a total of 10 safety cars have been deployed in Canada Drivers will find the best chances to overtake at turns one, nine and 10 On the subject of corners there are 15 in total (six left and nine right) The race is renowned as a car-breaker as over the last 11 years there have been 87 retirements

Here's a few bits you might fancy knowing before things get under way: